This is NOT a hoax. If it's borne out (and the people at Krebs Security are not ones to go off half-cocked), we're all in for a bumpy ride.

Best to begin monitoring your bank accounts and credit cards.

> Subject: [Krebs on Security] Breach at Equifax May Affect 143m people> Krebs on Security has posted a new item.> Date: September 7, 2017 at 3:30:50 PM PDT>> Equifax, one of the "big-three" U.S. credit bureaus, said today that a data> breach at the company may have affected 143 million Americans, jeopardizing> consumer Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and some driver's> license numbers.>> (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Saw this on News this AM. The method described, was to go online and enter your name and the last 6 numbers of your Social Security #. The response was "Your information "MAY" have been" exposed. MAY????? So if you get that answer what do you DO? Panic, go close all your accounts and open new ones, different banks? New checks? Who Pays? Will your Bank restore Balances stolen? Will Equafax? make you good even though you have never used them for anything at all. What we need are Laws that forbid any company from acquiring this kind of Data unless they have your consent Period. From any source other than yourself. It is all a $$ issue. They make a lot of money selling your information to credit card companies. I have never tried to find out what my Credit? score is. But recently I got a credit card statement that told me what it was.????. Now I know that I have all kinds of good credit. DUH!Well I have ranted enough. Regards, FITZ-G.

I checked after midnight Pacific. It only took a couple of tries. Bandwidth seemed to be sufficient when most of us, US, are asleep or in the late night clubs

The message I got was they didn't "think" I was affected. That made me wonder if the levels might be you are and we don't know.

On another related fraud issue, a banker told me yesterday if your bank account number gets in the hands of scammers, they can print checks and use them as they please She said using a credit card and paying it off monthly is the best way to protect liquid assets in your account. You have limited liability. It is the bank's money at risk.

"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

This whole credit card business is nothing but a high dollar scam. My wife and I applied for a new card recently. We were both turned down because we didn't have any debt and therefore no credit record. That's what happens when you pay for everything without taking out any loans. On the other hand our daughter, who has a car payment, a student loan debt, and a home loan got the same card without a hitch. The card company no doubt figures that if people are deep in debt they'll miss the monthly payment and the company can pile on the 18-20% interest and make some money. It pisses me off but what can we do? It's life in modern America.

JS

"I'll be happy to contribute to the wolf recovery program, 180 grains at a time" Unknown western rancher

When I started business 30 years ago, Washington Mutual had a big sail boat out front with a sign pushing their boat loans. If had told them I wanted that boat they would have fallen all over themselves getting it done. Since I was starting a business, they all said they wanted no part of it for 5 years. I told them I wouldn't need them in 5 years But, since nobody ships gold bullion to pay, a checking account was mandatory

U R right about the scam. They get money from us, US, that is literally free. They loan it out on cc accounts for 13 to 25%. Americans love it

"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

An article in the local paper said they delayed going public to give the police and feds time to track them down and charge them. Another article also stated that some upper management were unloading stock, so just what was the delay used for.

Upper management was unloading stock after the break in but they didn't know about it yet. Are they really stupid enough to think the public believes their B.S.? The only thing they take seriously is a negative impact on upper management bonuses.

I suppose they will pick another high profile female like Martha Stewart to prosecute and that will make it all better.

"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

This breach is far more than credit card exposure. The compromised data is the key to most of your financial accounts: bank accounts, stock, IRA, brokerage accounts, Social Security, pensions, etc., including the title to your house (see below).

Companies use the data that was exposed in this breach to allow you to reset your passwords: birth date, social security number, and address. Even if email addresses and phone numbers were not exposed in this breach, that data can be derived from cross referencing public databases with names and addresses that were included in the breach.

Using the data that was compromised, the hackers can file a fraudulent tax return for a tax refund or obtain a second mortgage against your house.

Most of the major breaches in the past have involved credit card numbers, email addresses, or passwords. You can fix those by cancelling your credit card, changing your email address or passwords. This breach involves a lot more. Equifax is NOT going to issue you a new Social Security number and they can't change your birthdate. The risk caused by this breach will follow people for the rest of their lives.

Even if your information was not compromised, out of the 143 million adult Americans whose data was exposed, you are going to have friends and family members who are in danger.

One thing everybody should have done long ago is to put a "freeze" on your credit reporting files. Easily done by phone. This stops a hacker from opening new accounts or lines of credit in your name. (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

This has no effect on your existing loans and credit cards, so you still have to watch your statements for fraudulent charges. One thing I know from experience is that Citibank runs a pretty sophisticated algorithm that identifies questionable charges before I even see them on a statement. Three times in the last 8 or 9 years they've called me to verify. I've had that card for over 35 years running, so they have a pretty good idea of what my usage patterns are. LifeLock isn't doing anything that Citibank doesn't already do for me.

BTW the last fish they caught came from PayPal, in 2013. Safer way to pay? Yeah, right! No more PayPal for me, which is why I don't buy or sell on evilBay anymore.